Hello all! Another chapter for you guys! Thank you very very much for your reviews! I'm so glad that you guys are enjoying this story so far. I do hope you like this chapter, and as always, let me know what you think!

Note: Dialouge in bold is spoken in Elvish.

Disclaimer: I own nothing associated with Lord of the Rings.

Chapter 7

Carita walked ahead as the walls of Moria came into view. She had not spoke a word to anyone as they went back down the mountain, retrieved Bill, rested a bit, and then continued on. She did not want to go into the mines. A greater evil than orcs or goblins resided in its walls because the dwarves of the Misty Mountains dug deep, very deep into the stone and unleashed a darkness that was nearly impossible to defeat.

"Frodo," she heard Gandalf say gruffly behind her and she looked over her shoulder to see the wizard and hobbit talking while the others passed them. Carita, however, just turned around, continued up the path, and stopped when she came to the top of the slope and looked upon the walls of Moria. After several minutes of looking at the stone walls in silence, Gimli's voice rang out quiet and full of amazement.

"The Walls…of Moria!" Gimli said and they quickly made their way to the walls to search for the door that would lead them through the mines and, with any hope, to the other side of the mountains.

The darkness of the night was over them, and Carita was thankful that the moon was hidden behind the clouds. However, Gandalf had returned her cloak to her and if need be, she could pull her hood on once more. Soon, they were at the mountain side and Gandalf moved his hand along the hard stone, and Gimli tapped at it with his axe in their search for the door. "Dwarf doors are invisible when closed," Gimli said as he tapped his axe on the stone once more and listened for an echo, but received none.

"Yes, Gimli, their own masters cannot find them, if their secrets are forgotten," Gandalf said as he ran his hand along the stone feeling for any sign of a door.

"Why doesn't' that surprise me?" Legolas asked and Gimli grumbled.

"Be kind to him," Carita chided from behind the elf and Legolas looked at her as he walked.

"You are speaking to me again?" he asked and Carita sighed.

"I spoke to you on the mountain pass did I not?" she asked.

"Yes, but it was more of necessity then desire and now you chastise me. Am I still in your ill favor?" he asked and Carita shook her head.

"No," she said as they continued to walk and Legolas watched her knowing the rocks along the path before his foot even grazed over them. "You saved me on the pass, and for that I thank you," she said softly so only his ears would hear it.

"I did not save you," he stated simply and looked ahead.

"You did, for if you hadn't pulled me when you did, I would have been struck by the falling rock," Carita said as her eyes snapped to him. "You did not have to do as you did."

"I did nothing no other would have done," he said and he left the subject where it was when their party came to a stop between to tattered and worn holly trees. However, no holly bloomed on them, and their branches were dry and brittle.

"The door is just there," she whispered able to see the lines in the stone as Gandalf ran his fingers across the stone and the lines within it. Legolas followed her gaze as they came to a stop and nodded.

"Ithildin . . .," Gandalf said quietly with a small smile. "It mirrors only starlight…and moonlight." Gandalf turned and raised his staff parting the clouds to allow the light of the moon to shine down upon them. Carita sighed quietly as she looked up at the once again full moon. She raised her hands to raise her hood when Legolas was suddenly before her, his hands wrapped around her wrists. She heard Gandalf speak and then Merry but she paid no head as to what was said because her eyes and full attention were upon the elf before her.

"Do not hide under your hood," he whispered so softly she would not have thought it was him who had spoken if she had not seen his lips move. "There is no shame in the light the moon gives you, only honor," he told her as he moved his fingers from around her wrists to grasp her hands and lower them to her sides.

"Knock your head against these doors, Peregrin Took! And if that does not shatter them, and I am allowed a little peace from foolish questions, I will try to find the opening words," Gandalf said angrily snapping Carita from whatever trance his touch had put her in. She quickly pulled her hands away from him and looked to Gandalf as he sat upon a fallen log. She looked down at the stone before she dared turned her eyes to Legolas once more. He was still looking at her intently and in wonder.

"I ask you this as my friend, please do not look at me in that way," she told him and he frowned deeply as she stepped around him to stand near the other holly tree and sat herself upon one of the bulging roots to wait for Gandalf to open the door. As she sat, she remembered another who looked at her as the Elvin prince just had.

"Annatar, must you tease me so," Carita said with a slight laugh as she strained to reach the parcel her love held high above his head and out of her grasp. The tall broad shouldered Maia laughed as he looked down at her. They stood in her sitting room of her home near a developing Elvin kingdom. She had arrived on Middle Earth just weeks before but Lady Varda had not wished her to. She pleaded to go so she could watch the race of elves grow and so she could show them the music and the light of the Valar.

"I do enjoy your begging, young one," he teased and Carita stopped trying to reach the parcel and sighed softly as she pleaded with her eyes and ran her hands up his firm, tunic covered chest. Annatar sighed quietly as he met her gaze. "I will not yield to you," he said trying to maintain his smile, but faltering when Carita ran her fingers up his neck and played slightly with his hair and pouted. "Oh, very well," he said with a heavy sigh and lowered his hands. Carita smiled and took the parcel from him and quickly untied the binding. She pealed back the paper and then opened the folded piece of black cloth. A small silver ring sat in the center of the cloth and she gasped quietly.

"It is beautiful," she said as she picked up the gleaming metal.

"I am to be away for some time," he told her with a pause and she looked up at him, "and I wished for you have something of mine to hold close to you." She smiled and quickly slid the ring onto her ring finger of her right hand. The ring molded to her finger and she sighed. It was simple, but it was the most beautiful thing any had given her. It was even lovelier than the gifts the Lady Varda would give her. "You shall never take it off," Annatar whispered and something stirred within her mind and she nodded not by her own doing.

"I shall never take it off," she whispered in response but frowned. She had not thought to say what she had, but when he leaned in and kissed her deeply, her confusion was forgotten and she knew nothing but his love.

Carita sighed and shook her head. Too often she thought of what was and her own naivety shined so brightly to her now that she felt the fool. As she had told herself many times, there was no point in drawing herself back to those times. She had been happy and loved beyond anything, but that love was a lie and her happiness was turned into pain and despair. Trying to set her mind to other things she thought of their journey so far. It had taken them to a path she did not wish to take, but there was no other choice and then like many times before her thoughts turned to her Elvin companion.

It was then that she realized that every time she thought of her past, it was resulting from a conversation or a simple look from Legolas. With a soft sigh she looked to where she had left the elf and saw him leaning against the other tree looking ahead and seeming to be lost in his own thoughts.

She was being foolish and thinking in ways one of just a fraction of her age and experience would think, much like she had when he was her life. She closed her eyes and looked away from Legolas before she slowly opened her eyes.

He was too young to know the things of her past, and she was too old to burden him with them. Carita knew that no matter what her heart would speak to her, she would be an even bigger fool to listen to it. Her heart had led her wrong before, and even though she knew no harm would ever come to her if she let herself continue the path she was going, she would not attempt it. She could not because if she did she knew she would tell him of her past, and he would never look at her the way he had just moments earlier.

Hours had past and the night weaned on before Gandalf sat back down on the fallen log defeated and feeling as though he would never open the doors. Carita sighed softly as she looked out into the water. Pippin and Merry had been throwing stones into the water and when Aragorn had stopped them, she saw rippling and she sat up straight.

"It's a riddle," she heard Frodo say and she tore her eyes away from the water and looked to Frodo. "Speak "friend" and enter. What's the Elvish word for friend?" Frodo asked as he looked from the door and to Gandalf.

"Mellon," Gandalf said as he looked to the door. The great stone doors slowly opened and Carita slowly stood and looked at them. The stone rumbled and echoed deeply and everyone moved to the door way. The party slowly entered the mine and Carita wrinkled her nose at a deep stench that met her.

"Soon, Master Elf, you will enjoy the fabled hospitality of the Dwarves! Roaring fires, malt beer, ripe meat off the bone. This, my friend, is the home of my cousin, Balin," Gimli said happily as Gandalf fumbled with one his stone and quickly inserted it into his staff providing light to the party. "And they call it a mine. A mine!" Carita's eyes widened as she looked around the room. Decayed dwarf soldiers laid across the floor and many carcasses of their enemies laid with them.

"This is no mine, it's a tomb!" Boromir exclaimed.

"Oh! No! No!" Gimli shouted as the corpses of his brethren laid before him. Legolas quickly moved forward and pulled an arrow from one of the fallen dwarves before he hastily threw it onto the stone.

"Goblins," he hissed and quickly drew an arrow of his own from his quiver. Carita put her hand on the hilt of her sword and looked into the mine as she took a step back. She heard Aragorn and Boromir draw their swords and she did the same as she stepped in front of the hobbits who stood near the doorway.

"We make for the Gap of Rohan. We should never have come here," Boromir said. "Now get out of here, get out!" Carita turned to usher the hobbits out when suddenly Frodo was pulled away by a slimy tentacle.

"Frodo!" she, Merry, Pippin, and Sam exclaimed. She moved just as fast as she had when she battled Boromir in Rivendell and grasped Frodo's arm and he clung to hers. She swung her sword at the tentacle that held him and the Watcher of the Water let him go. Sam, Merry and Pippin were at her side helping her get Frodo to his feet, when the four of them were swiftly knocked away, Carita was thrown farther than the others and her body slammed hard against the open stone door and she crumpled to the floor dazed and her head spinning from the impact on the stone.

"Help!" Frodo shouted as he was pulled high above the water.

"Strider!" Sam yelled and Aragorn quickly came out of the mine followed by Boromir and Aragorn. Legolas fired an arrow stopping the Watcher from wrapping it around Frodo's head.

"Help!" Frodo shouted again while Aragorn and Boromir sliced at the tentacles that tried to knock them away from saving the small hobbit. Carita slowly got to her feet and raised a hand to the back of her head. Her head was slightly damp and when she touched her head world spun around her. Aragorn grunted loudly as he sliced through the tentacle that held Frodo and Frodo fell into Boromir's arms.

"Into the mines!" Gandalf shouted.

"Legolas!" Boromir shouted as he turned and Aragorn and he made their way back towards the mines. Carita grasped her sword with her now wet hand, but nearly fell over. Aragorn was at her side and pulled her up before he carried her into the cave.

"Run!" Aragorn shouted to the hobbits and everyone moved quickly inside, Frodo in Boromir's arms and Carita in Aragorn's. The Watcher followed, but tore down the doors and sent the rocks crashing down and blocking their exit and retreat from the mines. All were panting and Aragorn kneeled down in the darkness with Carita still held safely in his arms. Gandalf hit his staff on the stone floor and looked at the wet but well party, save for the Maia that laid in Aragorn's arms.

Legolas felt a bit of panic rise in his heart when he saw her head lull back When Aragorn lowered her to the ground but kept her torso prompt up against his leg.

"Carita?" Aragorn asked as Gandalf moved over to them and gave the ranger needed light. Aragorn raised his hand to her cheek and gently touched her face. She sighed softly and opened her half closed eyes.

"What has happened?" she asked dazed.

"Where are you hurt?" Aragorn asked her.

"My head . . . everything spins," she said in a whisper before she closed her eyes. Aragorn quickly moved his fingers to the back of her head and she let out a cry of pain when his fingers pressed down upon her wound.

"She cannot travel yet, Gandalf," Aragorn said quietly and the wizard nodded.

"We must move from here," Gandalf said and looked towards the stairs. "If memory serves, there should be a cove, hidden enough for our party to be disguised in the dark. Can you carry her there?" Aragorn nodded, but Legolas interrupted.

"I can bring her," he said and Aragorn looked up at him. "It would be easier for me to move with her than it will be you, my friend," Legolas explained. Aragorn nodded and Legolas carefully picked Carita up from the ground and Aragorn grasped her sword. The party moved quietly and into the small cove where Carita was laid upon two blankets laid out by Merry and Pippin.

Aragorn tended to her head wound while Legolas and Gandalf moved over to the hobbits whose eyes were trained upon Aragorn and his work.

"Do you know how she was hurt?" Gandalf asked and Sam nodded.

"She helped free Mr. Frodo from the monster," Sam said. "We were pulling him up when we were pushed from him, but she was hit harder. I think because she is bigger. She flew against the stone and fell to the floor." Gandalf nodded and Aragorn moved away from her.

"She will be fine," Aragorn said quietly. "She must rest for a brief time, and then we can move on."

"We all must rest," Gandalf said and the party rested and waited for their companion to heal enough to make the three day journey through the mines and to the other side that would let them continue on their quest.

A/N: You now know the name of Carita's lover from when she was very, very young. He is a Tolkien character and his complete reveal will come in Chapter 8 or Chapter 9. Let me know what you think!